Elizabeth giggled a little at his contrivance to arrange another meeting without truly breaking propriety. “As a local resident, I must recommend today’s path. It is easily my favourite.”
Darcy smiled and bowed over her hand while giving it a reverent kiss, and they parted ways. Elizabeth was amazed her hand could feel so affected, even through her gloves.
*****
Breakfast at Netherfield vacillated between Bingley’s enthusiasm to call on his angel at Longbourn and Miss Bingley’s bitter acquiescence to her brother’s demand that she accompany him. Darcy was relieved to see them leave at last, so he could attend to his business while awaiting his cousin’s arrival. Darcy busied himself for about an hour before Colonel Fitzwilliam was announced. Darcy greeted him in the library, hoping they would not be interrupted when Bingley and his sister returned.
After receiving his cousin’s congratulations again and a jovial handshake, Darcy asked Fitzwilliam to be seated and poured them each some brandy. “Tell me, Richard. What is this urgent news? Has my aunt been rendered mute?” Darcy tried to jest, but his cousin’s aspect hardened.
“You shall need the drink at your side, William. It is grave news indeed.”
Darcy was truly troubled at his cousin’s tone and expression. “Is Anne unwell? I know I never directly refused to marry her before, but after all these years, and as she never asked it of me, I hoped she understood.” He hung his head. “I see it was selfish of me not to speak to Anne directly and eliminate any room for misunderstanding. As I never saw her show me any preference, I rather thought she just chose not to marry. Please tell me she is not ill over the disillusionment of our engagement.”
Darcy started at the sound of his cousin’s deep voice erupting in laughter. “I assure you, Anne is not pining over you!”
Relief washed over him, followed by self-reproach, as he realised yet another example of his conceit. “I am glad to hear it, but why am I a source of such merriment to you? I feared for her constitution in light of my betrothal.”
After another round of laughter, Fitzwilliam cleared his throat and met his cousin’s confused eyes. “William, you can be rather obtuse when you wish to. You never noticed Anne prefers my company?”
“I believed she feared me and her mother’s interpretation should she show me any attention.”
“I suppose that is partly true, but while you were busy pretending she ceased to exist, we were busy falling in love.”
Darcy sputtered, “L-l-love? How long?”
“We have been betrothed these three years. We desired to wait until you chose to marry. We never feared you would offer for Anne.”
“Richard! You said nothing! I delayed your nuptials for three years! My God! I would have…I would not marry just to give you an opportunity, but I would have supported you and Anne against the old battle-axe.”
Fitzwilliam sighed. “We know that. But we also know how Lady Catherine would react and felt it unfair to lay the burden on you if you were not ready for it. And with my limited income, we could be in no rush to marry at any rate before Anne could inherit Rosings as stated in her father’s will.”
Darcy nodded in silent agreement, and Fitzwilliam absentmindedly continued, “We saw your admiration for Miss Bennet but feared you would not act on it. I am sorry to say it became necessary to encourage you in that direction. We can afford no more delays.”
He gave Darcy a meaningful look. Darcy raised his eyebrows in surprise and exclaimed, “Richard! I know not whether to call you stupid or brave to bed a woman in her mother’s house, especially that mother!” Richard blushed but said nothing.
A silent moment elapsed before Darcy shot out of his chair and paced angrily around the room. “Tell me you did not imagine a compromising position to come about from my visit alone to the parsonage, from which you so neatly excused yourself.”
His cousin was silent. Darcy turned to face him. “Or did you? Did you know the Collinses would be out? And after the way you flirted with Elizabeth the night before! Was that to push me into action?” Fitzwilliam evaded Darcy’s eyes.
Darcy growled, “Do you know what you have done? If Elizabeth had a choice, she would have refused me. You knowingly put us in a position for scandal, and you forced her hand!” He sagged into his chair. “She was forced to yoke herself to a man she could not respect to protect her family and, at the same time, unintentionally placed her family in grave danger in another way.”
Very softly, he added, “She may never love me. She may never know what it is to love. Or worse, she may, and instead be bound to me instead of a man she could truly desire.”
Fitzwilliam sat in stunned silence before walking to his cousin and placing a hand on his shoulder. “Forgive me, William. Of course, I did not plan for a compromising position. I only wished to give you the opportunity to reach for your heart’s desire. I was uncertain of Miss Bennet’s regard for you, but I thought she esteemed you. I cannot imagine why she would not be pleased with marriage to you.”
“Because she has integrity! She believed me to be a most ungentlemanlike man and of poor character. My wealth and station in life could never tempt her into matrimony.”
Fitzwilliam interjected, “She must be under some severely false information about you, for you are amongst the finest of men.”
Darcy’s ire lessened, and he conceded, “She knows Wickham, and I did not make a good impression at our first meeting or for any part of our acquaintance afterwards. She easily believed his falsehoods. And I separated Bingley from her dearest sister, who I believed did not return his affection.” He let out a deep sigh. “But mostly, I can only blame myself. I was arrogant, conceited, and selfish and did nothing to recommend myself to her or anyone in this neighbourhood. I disapproved of her family and all of her friends and took little pains to hide it. She disliked me...quite rightly so.”
“Darcy, you are not so very bad. You sound as though her opinion of you has improved.”
“Yes, she claims some esteem for me now. My newly humbled vanity cannot credit it, but I believe her sincere.”
“Did you explain about Wickham? How does she even know him?” Fitzwilliam asked in confusion.
“Yes, she knows it all. Wickham is stationed here as part of the militia.”
Fitzwilliam paled. “My word. The old bat is truly very dangerous.”
Darcy furrowed his brows in confusion. “What do you mean?”
Fitzwilliam poured himself another glass and topped off Darcy’s. “Finish it. I mean it.” With a questioning glance, Darcy downed the brandy.
His cousin explained, “The day you left Kent, I overheard Lady Catherine mumbling to herself in her study. Anne and I knew of the accidental compromise and how upset my aunt was. We expected her to try to prevent the marriage in some way, so when we noticed her return, I managed silently to observe her.” He paused a moment. “William, I never knew she could scheme so brilliantly. It is a blessing she constantly rattles off her supposedly superior opinions, otherwise I never would have known what she was capable of.”
“What do you mean?”
“She hatched multiple schemes and chose to implement them all at once. Aside from attempting her verbal insults, she has issued an edict of silence on the matter and made Mr. Collins a messenger to Mr. Bennet, attempting to bribe the man into not recognizing the engagement.”
“Yes, we were at Longbourn in time to receive the letters. I do not trust she can enforce silence, and I do not believe she could truly honour the payment to Mr. Bennet...and he agrees with me.”
“There is more. She also sent a letter to Wickham.” Darcy’s eyes grew wide. “She believes if the Bennet reputation could be destroyed, you would not marry Miss Elizabeth and, therefore, would marry Anne instead. She still desires to keep the engagement a secret, but she charged him with seducing one of Miss Elizabeth’s sisters.”
“It is news to me that she would consult Wickham, but I already anticipated his desire to either seduce or el
ope with one of the girls,” Darcy calmly replied.
“She also intends to manipulate you with Georgiana’s reputation.”
Darcy jumped from his chair, and his cousin took a step backwards. “How does she even know?”
Fitzwilliam took another step back to give his cousin a wide berth before replying, “Remember she recommended Mrs. Younge? She must have contacted them both.”
Darcy stumbled back into his chair in disbelief. “How did she find him? And why target Georgiana?”
“Is it not obvious? She thought if Georgiana eloped, she could control you by hushing up the matter. If you recall, just after the incident, she began to claim Georgiana needed proper guidance for Society and attempted to show Anne as ideal to help the poor girl.”
Darcy seethed with rage but knew he needed to regulate himself to comprehend all of the information. “And she knew of Wickham’s whereabouts?”
“I do not know the answer to that question but I spent the last several days doing some research.”
“And what did you find?”
“Do you recall the year when she began declaring you were to marry Anne?”
“It was just after Mother passed. I was twelve, so it was 1796. Why?”
“Patience. And after your father passed?”
“She was almost frantic with pressing the issue, but I managed to show how overwhelming it was being such a young master. What does this have to do with Georgiana or her present business with Wickham?”
“Do you recall anything of the bank crisis in 1796?”
“I was obviously very young, but I do remember it some. If I recall correctly, it was caused by land speculation in America.”
“Yes, and I learned that Sir Lewis invested heavily in the scheme. He also held stock in some shipyards in America that went bankrupt. Additionally, he lost money in the Bank Restriction Act when he did not exchange his notes for gold before the legislation was passed, since he was in New York at the time. Rosings Park has been on the brink of ruin ever since. Lady Catherine coveted an alliance with the Darcy fortune.”
Darcy stroked his jaw in thought. He allowed it certainly made sense. He knew of more noble lines than the de Bourghs who were in financial straits for the last several decades due to the wars. He also knew why he was so fervently sought on the marriage mart—for his wealth even more than rank.
“How has Lady Catherine managed? I look over her ledgers, and there are credits from various investments, as the estate itself does not produce much.”
“Exactly. But you only began looking them over in the last three years, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Have you ever looked at the earlier years?”
“No, I never saw the need.”
“I can certainly agree. If you did, however, then you would have seen the near total financial demise of her investments due to the American Embargo Act five years ago.”
Darcy’s mind rapidly understood the remaining pieces of the puzzle. “My word! It was not that I managed to convince her that I could not take a bride at the time but because she recovered her losses when the Americans repealed the Act three years ago.”
Fitzwilliam eagerly nodded. “Yes, and she invested in South American markets. She is much better at business than her husband was.”
“And now war is brewing with the Americans again. She fears the disruption of trade and needs an alliance…closer to home!”
“That is my reasoning entirely!”
Both gentlemen sat in silence for a time, reeling from the revelations. Darcy said ruefully, “Richard, our aunt may be a wise tactician even against Napoleon.”
“Even still, we must convince her to cease her plans and call back Wickham.”
Darcy shook his head, his countenance darkening. “I can give her a loan, but I have no hope she can discourage Wickham. And if we unravel Lady Catherine’s plans too early and announce the engagement, we only add incentive for Wickham to act rashly and implement his plans. I know he must see there is greater potential for profit for him in my marrying Elizabeth, no matter his employment with our aunt. For now, we cannot give the impression we know what they are about. I employed investigators to seek evidence of a high crime committed by Wickham, and now I can point them in the right direction.”
Fitzwilliam agreed, and the cousins sat in brooding silence until a servant came to announce afternoon refreshments served in the drawing room. The rest of the day passed in irritating pursuits planned by Miss Bingley after she and her brother returned from Longbourn.
Chapter Eleven
Thursday, April 16, 1812
Darcy looked at another letter from his steward and rubbed his temples, then sighed. He must journey to Pemberley. He had previously anticipated needing to leave for London next week, but now he must leave Hertfordshire even earlier. He looked at the calendar and shook his head. If he departed tomorrow, he would arrive at Pemberley on Saturday. He usually was present for the first week or so of the planting season at Pemberley, so this request was not very unusual. It would delay his travels to London, however. He could scarcely hope to return to Hertfordshire before the middle of May at this rate.
It was two weeks since he learned of his aunt’s schemes against him, and nothing new was learned. Mr. Collins swiftly returned to Hunsford with a well-worded decline of Lady Catherine’s offer of money, stating that Mr. Bennet was thankful for her assurances of silence regarding the matter. No new correspondence from her had come, and Darcy assumed she was still scheming from afar.
The day after Colonel Fitzwilliam arrived at Netherfield, he accompanied Darcy and Bingley to call on Longbourn. As expected, the youngest Bennet daughters flirted with Fitzwilliam, and Mrs. Bennet was no less attentive to the son of an earl. He discouraged their attentions when he explained his lot as a second son. No matter the wealth of his father, all of the estates and most of the money was to go to his older brother. He further explained his longstanding courtship with a lady, but they could not marry yet due to his insufficient income. Kitty and Lydia took to heart the good colonel’s words on the imprudence of marrying an officer, but it did nothing to convince them to cease flirting.
Darcy feared Mrs. Bennet and the younger girls might ostracise Wickham after learning he was a gamester and that his accusations against Darcy were vile lies, but it proved needless. None of the women were sensible enough to dislike the company of a man who was otherwise so handsome and charming. Busy arranging a means for Bingley to propose to Jane, Mrs. Bennet hosted the officers with less frequency. Bingley called on Longbourn daily, but to avoid suspicion Darcy did not.
Darcy had not crossed paths with Wickham yet, although Elizabeth was not so fortunate. She admitted to Darcy that, after her first encounter with Wickham, she was scarcely able to hold her tongue and feared she would inadvertently display her improved opinion of Darcy, but she managed to dissemble. In light of Colonel Fitzwilliam’s information of Lady Catherine’s schemes, Darcy believed Wickham would heed her demands for the present until Darcy was moved to announce the engagement. Knowing his aunt’s plans rendered her rather powerless, Darcy did not desire Wickham to have motivation to enact his scheme. Being acquainted with the overactive matchmaking imagination of the local population, Darcy and Elizabeth were careful not to seem too companionable when Darcy called on Longbourn. It all bordered on deceit, and he found it exhausting and frustrating.
After realizing the extent of Lady Catherine’s long-standing plots, he chose not to underestimate Wickham. Except for the day following their first encounter at Oakham Mount, he and Elizabeth did not purposefully meet again and only happened upon each other a few times. Darcy was growing increasingly frustrated. He could not court Elizabeth properly, and it was a torment to be near her, love her, have her agreement to marry, and yet not be able to speak openly with her. Nor did he have any real plan of improving her opinion of him. He believed it nearly impossible for Elizabeth to get to know him in an hour’s call in Mrs. Bennet’s drawin
g room.
He pushed himself to show every civility in his power to the Bennet family and Hertfordshire Society as a whole. Miss Bingley frequently looked at him as though he had two heads when he spoke more than necessary when in Society, and once he even initiated conversation with Sir William. She seemed to be giving up her quest for him as she realized he favoured country over town life. However, he did not attend all of the gatherings, fearful of encountering Wickham. Elizabeth seemed uncharacteristically quiet around him, and this troubled him deeply.
As leaving Hertfordshire could not be helped, Darcy turned his mind towards more pleasant thoughts, an attitude Elizabeth was trying to teach him. Being away from potential encounters with Wickham and the strain of disguising his intentions towards Elizabeth would be welcome. Additionally, Mr. Bennet may be persuaded to allow them to write to each other, through the Gardiners, once he was in London.
Darcy spoke with Mr. Bennet again about the possibility of Elizabeth going to Town while he was there. Her father believed the idea too revealing. She recently returned from travels in Kent and was to be gone again in July. The only credible cause for her to travel to Town was if she helped Jane shop for wedding clothes, but there was little hope of that occurring in the next few weeks. All but Mrs. Bennet could see the sense in Bingley properly courting Jane before another proposal.
He glanced at his watch and realised it was too late to call on Longbourn, and only the briefest of calls tomorrow was possible if he was to arrive at Pemberley before sunset on Saturday. He would not be able to speak with Mr. Bennet regarding correspondence with Elizabeth and instead penned a note to the gentleman, then notified his valet they would depart on the morrow.
Having plans in motion, he felt a surge of restlessness and decided to take an afternoon walk. Sneaking out of the library, as he knew Miss Bingley lurked about, he quickly changed clothes, then exited the house via the servants’ entry. He stopped by the kennel, as Miss Bingley would no longer allow Alfred indoors, and headed towards Oakham Mount.
Compromising Mr. Darcy: A Pride and Prejudice Variation Anthology Page 14
